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The latest stories from AHA Today.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers have recently introduced a spate of AHA-backed legislation that supports small and rural prospective payment system (PPS) hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAH). Securing passage of the legislation is part of the AHA’s advocacy agenda. The rural…
AHA-supported legislation introduced late yesterday in the House and Senate would permanently extend add-on payments for ambulance services in rural areas, which are set to expire March 31. The Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention, and Reform Act (S. 377/H.R. 745) was introduced by Sens.…
A group of organizations, including The US Oncology Network owned by McKesson, is urging Congress to enact site-neutral payment policies for services performed in hospital outpatient departments. The Alliance for Site-Neutral Payment Reform wants Medicare to pay HOPDs the same rates as physician…
AHA today recommended specific changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program to encourage accountable care organizations to invest in the infrastructure necessary to successfully take on risk.
A recent cyber attack against health insurer Anthem’s information technology system serves as a potent reminder to hospitals and other health care organizations of the importance of ongoing initiatives to prevent and protect against cybersecurity risks. Cyber attackers gained access to…
Nearly 7.5 million consumers selected or were re-enrolled in a health plan through HealthCare.gov between Nov. 15 and Jan. 30, according to preliminary data released yesterday by the Department of Health and Human Services. Almost 180,000 people signed up last week. The update includes data…
Legislation to revamp Medicare’s telehealth legislation should address several statutory restrictions that stand in the way of modernizing coverage and payment for telehealth services, the AHA last week told a congressional working group that recently circulated a draft proposal.
In a Jan.…
President Obama’s call for deep funding cuts to hospital care “are bad medicine for our nation’s seniors and other vulnerable patients,” AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock said in a Feb. 2 statement following release of the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget…
The AHA and nine other national hospital groups today urged Congress to oppose any additional Medicare and Medicaid cuts to payments for hospital services to offset the cost of resolving the Sustainable Growth Rate for Medicare physician payment.
Rep. Don Young (R-AK) introduced late yesterday the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act (H.R. 672), AHA-supported legislation that would extend the demonstration for five years. The program enables rural hospitals with fewer than 51 acute-care beds to test the feasibility of cost-…